Daily Star staff
Saturday, August 22, 2009

BEIRUT: The eighth edition of ..né.à Beyrouth’s Lebanese Film Festival commenced at Metropolis Cinema Thursday evening with a trio of brand-new works by Lebanese artists. Danielle Arbid’s 29-minute cinematic essay “Conversation de Salon II (4,5,6),” the 31-minute “Bi rouh, bi dam” (“In their Blood”) by Katia Jarjoura and Talal Khoury’s 35-minute “Mercredi” (“Wednesday”) began the event.

Some 41 films will be screened at LFF this year. As usual, they are divided into several categories. New and newish local works – short films and cinematic essays, animated films, documentaries and music videos – are clustered in the “Lebanese Corner.” Filmmakers of the Lebanese diaspora have their own section as do non-Lebanese filmmakers. There is also a retrospective of short foreign works, both music videos and short films. LFF will close Monday evening with Chadi Zeneddine’s debut feature from 2007, the poetic, “Falling from Earth.”

Many of the new-to-Lebanon films come from tested filmmaking talents – the works by Arbid, Jarjoura and Khoury that opened the festival, for instance, Rami Kodeih’s new film “P like Paranoid,” Ziad Antar’s “Laylit Hob,” and “Awalouha Najwa … wa akhirouha!” byt Lokman Slim and Monika Borgmann. Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige’s “Khiam 2000-2007” promises a reappraisal of their well-received 2000 doc “Khiam.”

LFF also provides a platform where Lebanese film and film about Lebanon – which usually enjoys single, one-off theatrical screenings – to be projected again. Among the excellent works that will enjoy reprise screenings are Eliane Raheb’s “Hayda Lubnan,” Nizar Hassan’s “Janoub,” Gheith al-Amine’s “Once upon a sidewalk,” Carine Doumit’s “Video 1,” and Mohamed Soueid’s “My Heart beats only for her.”

“It’s all about giving Lebanese films the opportunity to be broadcasted, and above all, about emphasizing the vitality of Lebanese movies, the quality of which has substantially improved ever since the launch of our first initiative in 2001,” remarked festival director Pierre Sarraf at the Monday press conference held by ..né.à Beyrouth and their partners Bank Audi sal – Audi Saradar Group. “The event is actually much more than a festival since it aims at reflecting the reality of Lebanese cinema, without establishing hierarchy between different film categories.”

Sarraf and Audi Bank’s Raymond Audi ended the conference by announcing the “Bank Audi Best Film Award,” a $2,000 prize for the best film selected from all categories. The winner will be selected by a jury composed of Beirut DC founder and Metropolis Cinema director Hania Mroue, Al-Mustaqbal film critic Rima Mismar, Oberhausen International Short Film Festival director Lars Gass and Lebanese filmmaker Elie Khalife.

Gass and Akram Zaatari, Lebanese video artist, curator, director and co-founder of the Arab Image Foundation, will conduct a Question-and-Answer session on Sunday, during which Gass will share his thoughts on the role and future of film festivals, exploring such questions as, “When film festivals are no longer marketplace, but forums, not a place of trade anymore, but places of commutation, when they no longer broker but commercialize, what then will be the income base for the filmmakers and producers?”

Following the Q&A, they will preside over a screening of films selected from the Oberhausen festival. LFF organizers point out that they were especially pleased to have welcome to have Gass on hand to select a selection of films from Oberhausen which, like the Lebanese Film Festival, screens a number of short films by up and coming directors. – The Daily Star

The Lebanese Film Festival continues at Metropolis Cinema (aka Sofil) until August 24. For more information ring + 961 1 203 485

Doha is making new strides in “reel life” as upcoming national filmmakers embark on an initiative to learn the art of filmmaking.

Using Doha as a backdrop, a team of Qatari nationals is learning the art of filmmaking, thanks to Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF).

“Nothing like this has ever happened in Qatar,” said Amanda Palmer, DTFF’s Executive Director.

“We have set out to find stories here, and the only way to draw those stories out is to engage people living here in filmmaking. The enthusiasm and creativity this activity has generated in just five days’ time bodes well for the future of cinema in Qatar,” she said.

Under the tutelage of award-winning filmmaker Scandar Copti, DTFF’s Community Outreach Programmer, the group wrote, directed and produced original short films.

“To make a film, even for one minute, you need people, cameras, sound equipment, and most of all, a good story,” said Copti.

The group was charged with creating a one-minute film based on their original story. To get the process started, Copti advised his students to draw on their own life experience. “Keep it simple and realistic,” he told them. “Each piece needs to have a purpose.”

One participating filmmaker created a brief but impactful horror feature. A second looked at the impact of technology and communication on Qatari life. A third created a vignette around a Qatari family at home.

Now comes the real work for these young directors – the final edit.

After writing their scripts and shooting their scenes, the workshop participants are sequestering themselves in editing suites to produce final, audience-worthy versions of their one-minute films. “Filmmaking requires total dedication,” said Copti.

“You have to be very passionate about it.”

“I will never look at a 90-minute movie the same way again,” said Fatma Alremaihi, a participant. “Prior to this experience, I never thought I would make a movie. Now I have a greater understanding of everything from correct lighting to camera angles.”

Alremaihi, who cast her five-year-old son Saeed in her brief film on family interaction, added: “Now my son wants to make movies, too.”

Noora Almeadadi, a one-minute filmmaker, finished the experience eager to make more movies as well.

She said, “The experience was challenging but enriching. I hope to have another chance to produce a longer length feature film in future, using the skills I have learnt with the DTFF team.”

Following the success of the first one-minute film experiment, the team at DTFF are planning more seminars.

The next five-day workshop, covering screenplay writing, filming, producing and editing, is to follow soon. To participate in the next “1-Minute Film” workshop, candidates are being asked to submit their film ideas to nmdtff@gmail.com.

“Every film must be screened,” said Palmer.

“Movies are made to be seen.” The DTFF plans to host a private showing of the films later this month.

The “1-Minute Films” series will be an ongoing outreach programme by DTFF to encourage interest in cinema, and contribute to the development of a film industry in Qatar.

The DTFF will run from October 29 to November 1, 2009 and is being produced by the Qatar Museums Authority in collaboration with the Tribeca Film Festival.

It will include about 30 films as well as special events. In its four days in Doha, DTFF will showcase its events around the city’s Museum of Islamic Art.

The festival is modelled on the success of Tribeca Film Festival’s dedication to engage the community and promote filmmaking talent.

In its inaugural year, Doha’s film festival will celebrate the best of Arabic and international cinema.

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By

Staff Writer on Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Doha is making new strides in “reel life” as upcoming national filmmakers embark on an initiative to learn the art of filmmaking.

Using Doha as a backdrop, a team of Qatari nationals is learning the art of filmmaking, thanks to Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF).

“Nothing like this has ever happened in Qatar,” said Amanda Palmer, DTFF’s Executive Director.

“We have set out to find stories here, and the only way to draw those stories out is to engage people living here in filmmaking. The enthusiasm and creativity this activity has generated in just five days’ time bodes well for the future of cinema in Qatar,” she said.

Under the tutelage of award-winning filmmaker Scandar Copti, DTFF’s Community Outreach Programmer, the group wrote, directed and produced original short films.

“To make a film, even for one minute, you need people, cameras, sound equipment, and most of all, a good story,” said Copti.

The group was charged with creating a one-minute film based on their original story. To get the process started, Copti advised his students to draw on their own life experience. “Keep it simple and realistic,” he told them. “Each piece needs to have a purpose.”

One participating filmmaker created a brief but impactful horror feature. A second looked at the impact of technology and communication on Qatari life. A third created a vignette around a Qatari family at home.

Now comes the real work for these young directors – the final edit.

After writing their scripts and shooting their scenes, the workshop participants are sequestering themselves in editing suites to produce final, audience-worthy versions of their one-minute films. “Filmmaking requires total dedication,” said Copti.

“You have to be very passionate about it.”

“I will never look at a 90-minute movie the same way again,” said Fatma Alremaihi, a participant. “Prior to this experience, I never thought I would make a movie. Now I have a greater understanding of everything from correct lighting to camera angles.”

Alremaihi, who cast her five-year-old son Saeed in her brief film on family interaction, added: “Now my son wants to make movies, too.”

Noora Almeadadi, a one-minute filmmaker, finished the experience eager to make more movies as well.

She said, “The experience was challenging but enriching. I hope to have another chance to produce a longer length feature film in future, using the skills I have learnt with the DTFF team.”

Following the success of the first one-minute film experiment, the team at DTFF are planning more seminars.

The next five-day workshop, covering screenplay writing, filming, producing and editing, is to follow soon. To participate in the next “1-Minute Film” workshop, candidates are being asked to submit their film ideas to nmdtff@gmail.com.

“Every film must be screened,” said Palmer.

“Movies are made to be seen.” The DTFF plans to host a private showing of the films later this month.

The “1-Minute Films” series will be an ongoing outreach programme by DTFF to encourage interest in cinema, and contribute to the development of a film industry in Qatar.

The DTFF will run from October 29 to November 1, 2009 and is being produced by the Qatar Museums Authority in collaboration with the Tribeca Film Festival.

It will include about 30 films as well as special events. In its four days in Doha, DTFF will showcase its events around the city’s Museum of Islamic Art.

The festival is modelled on the success of Tribeca Film Festival’s dedication to engage the community and promote filmmaking talent.

In its inaugural year, Doha’s film festival will celebrate the best of Arabic and international cinema.

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By Kera Bolonik
New York Magazine
Published Aug 16, 2009

Onetime The L Word writer Cherien Dabis’s convictions far outweigh her fear of obstacles. Raised in the Midwest by a Jordanian mother and a Palestinian father, Dabis spent five years during the George W. Bush administration writing and pursuing funds for a film about racism and deracination in post-9/11 America. Amreeka recounts the travails of Muna, a perennially optimistic Palestinian single mother who flees the escalating violence of the West Bank for her sister’s middle-class life in Kewanee, Illinois, only to face another brand of discrimination. Dabis talked with Kera Bolonik.

Amreeka is a far cry from The L Word. Is this your family’s story?
It’s loosely based on things that happened to us during the first Gulf War. We lived in a small Ohio town, and my father, a physician like Muna’s brother-in-law, lost a lot of patients because people didn’t want to see an Arab doctor. We got daily death threats, and the Secret Service came to my school because there was a rumor that my 17-year-old sister had threatened to kill the president. I was 14 and became obsessed with the media’s portrayal of Arabs. No one was depicting what we were going through in that climate. It propelled me to become a filmmaker.

You were doing prep work in March 2008 when Israel bombed Gaza. That must have been terrifying.
There were riots in the streets. At one point we were stuck in border traffic, directly in the line of fire. And while we were casting at a refugee camp, a boy was telling me about Israelis teargassing his house when gunfire erupted. He looked at me not like he was scared, but like he was sorry. I thought, If he’s not scared, I’m not scared. People shouldn’t be able to adapt to certain things, but we can. That’s part of the problem.

Is that where you found Muna’s teenage son?
No. Melkar [Muallem] is the son of a Palestinian woman who helped cast the film. He wanted nothing to do with acting—both parents are actors, and he’s only interested in computer science. I begged him to audition, and after he did, he wanted the part.

How did you get the film produced during this tumultuous period in our history?
I started writing the screenplay in 2003, when everyone wanted movies with American heroes. I’m a first-time filmmaker, with a no-name cast, shopping around a family dramedy that I was told was too light, too culturally specific. It was through programs like Sundance Labs and the Arab-American community that the movie got made.

And that took you to Sundance and Cannes.
Cannes was the first time my mom saw it. We got a six-minute standing ovation, during which she hugged me so tight she accidentally unclasped the back of my dress. It almost fell off!

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Amin Matalqa, director of the Jordanian film Captain Abu Raed, recently spoke with the AFF about the growth and potential of Arab cinema and the need to create more Arab heroes.

When asked about why he wanted to make Abu Raed, Matalqa noted that there were several important reasons, including what he called the “obvious” need to battle stereotypes of Arabs.

“The stereotypes have become old news,” said Matalqa. “It’s a time for Arabs to tell our own story.”

In Captain Abu Raed, Jordan’s official entry into the 2009 Academy Awards competition, Abu Raed is a janitor at the airport who is mistaken for a pilot by the children in his lower-class neighborhood when they see him wearing a discarded captain’s hat.

As Abu Raed gains popularity with the children, he tells them made up stories about his travels around the world, although he has never set foot on an airplane. He gets involved in the lives of two boys, one who is kept out of school by his father and the other a victim of abuse from his father, and tries to help both.

Abu Raed is the story of an average man who tries his best to be the hero and make a difference in the world, Matalqa said.

“We need more heroes—there is a huge lack of that,” said Matalqa, in regards to characters in Arab film history.

Captain Abu Raed’s humanity and humor have allowed it to successfully cross borders and translate to a variety of cultures across the globe.

Matalqa tells a story where, after a screening of Captain Abu Raed, a young Russian woman came to him and said that Abu Raed could have easily been a Russian character.

Matalqa has even given permission for an Indian remake of his film to be made.

Many critics have noted that Matalqa’s protagonist in Captain Abu Raed is a surprisingly humanistic character that experiences universal feelings of insecurity and compassion. Furthermore, critics have dwelled on the fact that Captain Abu Raed is devoid of any political undertones, something that has become synonymous with Arab art and culture according to Western perceptions.

“It was a very conscious decision to leave out politics,” said Matalqa. “I’m not interested in politics.”

When asked to define Jordanian cinema, Matalqa said it is “passionate, enthusiastic and young.”

Matalqa says he was pleased to see the amount of enthusiasm towards cinema in Jordan displayed by both the government and the Jordanian people.

The crew for Captain Abu Raed was a mix of American and Jordanian workers. Matalqa brought all of his department heads from Los Angeles in hopes that they could teach the local crew and share their experiences.

A unique element of Jordanian cinema is its lack of precedent, something Matalqa described as both a blessing and a challenge. On one hand, there is no expectation of Jordanian films, and so Captain Abu Raed was allowed to make a name for itself without any preceding judgments or stereotype concerning Jordanian cinema. On the other hand, there is also little to drive people to the theaters to watch a Jordanian film when they have no experience with that part of the world.

However, Matalqa hopes that the filmgoers who have been exposed to Captain Abu Raed will have gained a new interest in Arab and Jordanian cinema, and he believes they will not be let down.

“I hope we continue to see more movies [from Jordan] and prove that [this success] is not a fluke.”

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Pomegranates and Myrr by Najwa Najjar

Eye of the Sun

The National
By Toufic Haddad

Last Updated: July 28. 2009 2:20PM UAE / July 28. 2009 10:20AM GMT

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Dar Films is an unassuming studio tucked away in a subterranean apartment on the outskirts of Ramallah’s sprawling urban landscape.

It is also where one of the Occupied Palestinian Territories’ most ambitious cultural endeavours has just been produced, in the form of a 3D animated film entitled Fatenah.

Saed Andoni, 37, produced and edited the movie with the assistance of Ahmad Habash, 33, the project’s director and animator. It tells the story of Fatenah, a woman from Gaza who discovers she has breast cancer. Her struggle for survival brings the audience into the painful and humiliating journey of those who suffer from terminal illnesses in the context of Israel’s debilitating siege.

Though the film is unavoidably sullen in plot, the story of its production is markedly more inspiring. It is a testament to the resourcefulness of its creators and the evolving quest among Palestinian artists and filmmakers to find the best means to express their contemporary condition.

“We didn’t want to deal with slogans and we didn’t want to address the ‘Palestinian cause,’” notes Andoni, as he rolls a cigarette before split-screen computer-editing equipment. “What we care about is the individual, her life and her story.”

Indeed Fatenah’s novelty is its ability to tell a personal story that reverses more classical Palestinian approaches to film, which tend to put their politics front and centre. Instead it relies upon subtle yet telling background details that speak volumes about the conditions Gazans live in.

During a simple dinner scene, the electricity suddenly shuts off – a regular occurrence in Gaza due to Israel’s policy of preventing much-needed fuel from entering the strip. The staccato sound of machine-gun fire pierces the conversation of another scene, acting as a reminder of Gaza’s perpetual instability and danger, but also of how Gazans have simply become accustomed to such conditions. Politics indelibly colours Fatenah’s setting, but it is deliberately muffled to bring out a more personal and humanising account.

Instead viewers witness the lead character’s love for a colleague in the small sewing workshop where she is employed and the tormenting nightmares she has of her illness. The engaging personal storyline pulls the viewer through the film’s 30 minutes, building a sense of injustice and cruelty, and climaxing in a final wrenching scene at an Israeli checkpoint.

Fatenah is based upon the true-life story of a Gazan woman whose identity Andoni and his colleagues have chosen to keep secret. (Fatenah is not her real name.) He became aware of her case in November 2007 when exploring ways to cover the medical crisis resulting from Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip with his friend and script co-author Ambrogio Manenti, the former director of the World Health Organization in Jerusalem. The duo, who had worked together on documentary film projects, came upon a report by Physicians for Human Rights, an Israeli organisation that focuses on trying to assist Palestinians in securing adequate health care.

“The story was incredible because when you read it, it read like a movie,” recalls Andoni.

He soon contacted Habash, who had recently returned from completing his master’s degree in 3D animation at Bournemouth University in the UK, recruiting him to the project. The team set about writing the script, incorporating fictional elements to even out the storyline and characters.

From the outset, the team faced complicated challenges related to a shoestring budget ($60,000), insufficient manpower and the never distant political situation. These constraints characterise and often cause the underdevelopment of Palestinian cultural production, forcing the team to creatively adapt or quite simply overwork themselves.

“For a year and a half I worked 15 hours a day, seven days a week,” recalls Habash, the film’s sole animator, with a half-shaven look that still bears the marks of fatigue. “I definitely overdid it, but it was the only way it was going to get done.”

Neither Andoni nor Habash had set foot in Gaza for more than 10 years and both were prevented from entering due to Israeli military orders that restrict movement of people between the West Bank and Gaza. Their answer was to use the existing resources at their disposal. Andoni commissioned a local photographer by phone to shoot images of some of the film’s most distinctly Gazan imagery – its refugee camps, its sea, its streets. The team also shot images in the West Bank of more generic settings, such as those inside hospitals. To complete the aesthetic, Andoni spent “hundreds of hours” mining the internet for additional shots of everything from the Israeli army insignia to basic office furniture.

The images were key to the animation style that Habash and Andoni chose to reflect life in Gaza.

“We didn’t just want the film to bring the viewer into a virtual reality,” notes Andoni. “We wanted to ground it on earth.” The team experimented by taking their collection of still images from Gaza and using them as two-dimensional backgrounds upon which the three-dimensional animation was superimposed. The effect is a blend of reality and fiction.

“Animation gives you another freedom,” says Andoni. “You can still speak about reality, but you can also create another reality related to this reality, and play with both, coming up with something original and new.”

The imprints of his documentary film roots and the influence of his favourite school of documentary filmmaking – cinema vérité, or direct cinema, where directors employ a fly-on-the-wall minimalist approach – are all over Andoni’s shot selection. But because of time constraints and the desire for a simplistic visual feel, almost all 700 shots in the film’s 56 scenes are taken from a fixed camera position, as though from a tripod.

Technological advances in 3D graphics programs have made it possible to film with virtual cameras instead of real ones. Using the animation program Softimage, Habash would begin by composing each character based upon rough hand-drawn sketches that were transformed into 3D figures in a process known as “modelling”. After first combining primitive objects such as cylinders and cubes into 3D figures, clothing, colour and texture are then added to make the figures look somewhat believable. A third stage called “rigging” is used to assign bone structure and the mechanics for how each character moves.

“We tried not to be hyper-realistic in their form, because 3D tends to build alienated characters that no one can believe if you try to be too lifelike,” notes Habash. He credits the Palestinian artists Suleiman Mansour and Ismail Shamout for influencing his portrayal of the characters, particularly women.

Once the characters were fully developed, the next stage involved placing them in make-believe settings and ani
mating them so that they act out the script. All the indoor scenes are composed of 3D virtual environments Habash created, while the outdoor scenes are compound-two-dimensional stills collected during the team’s research.

Finally the director assigns the placement of virtual cameras that are inserted inside each virtual scene, commanding them to film the action. The entire process needs to be well thought out in advance as animation is too costly and time-consuming to produce extra footage and scenery that will only later be cut.

The flow of the film’s storyboard – the shot by shot breakdown of the film, with each shot’s accompanying script – is key to the aesthetic credibility of character movement. In the case of Fatenah, the storyboard was vital to Habash.

“When you are working on animation, after a few shots, the characters start acting by themselves. Now I believe that Fatenah exists somewhere.”

When the film was finally composed, Andoni took the initiative to contact the family whom the character of Fatenah was based on.

“We told them, ‘Listen. Watch this film and tell us what you think. This is not your daughter in the film but it is inspired from her story’.”

After initial hesitancy, the family watched the film, then called Andoni back.

“‘It’s brilliant,’” Andoni recalls the father telling him. “I would like to thank you for this film.”

The compliment “almost made me cry on the phone”, relates Andoni. “I told him, ‘These words mean the world to me.’”

On July 1, Andoni, Habash and the small crew of volunteers who assisted with sound, music and voiceovers, gathered at the Kasaba theatre in Ramallah for the film’s premiere. Andoni was shocked at the outpouring of interest. All 380 seats in the theatre were full, and dozens more members of the audience were seated in the aisles. Advertising had been restricted to a few select invitations to close friends and the posting of the event on Facebook.

The audience initially appeared to respond positively to the film, seemingly charmed by what was likely to have been their first experience watching a Palestinian setting portrayed through 3D animation. But as the film progressed, an uncomfortable silence filled the room, as Fatenah’s struggle came to a depressing end. Not a few cheeks were wet with tears.

Dima Murad, 26, an architect from Jerusalem, attended the Ramallah premiere and appreciated Fatenah’s personalisation of the Palestinian condition.

“Palestinians are generally considered as numbers, as sheep,” she said.

“If hundreds of us die, it’s not a problem. But behind each one of us is a big story and a big hassle.” For Murad, the film addressed “everyday issues, that anyone might have to deal with – love, cancer, family. Through a personal story it gave the message about the whole situation here.”

Others in attendance noted the merits of animation that allowed the film to address issues harder to tackle in live action.

“I liked the fact that there was some subtle social criticism that addressed taboo subjects like shame,” commented Nadim Khoury, a 28-year-old political philosophy PhD student at the University of Virginia, home for summer break. “How do you talk about breast cancer in a society where talking about breasts is not exactly something you do daily? The medium of animation allowed the director to do that much more easily.”

The premiere’s reception was a welcome rejoinder to the long and lonesome hours the filmmakers spent putting Fatenah together. Andoni hopes it is a good omen for the film, which has now been submitted to major international film festivals, including Toronto and Venice. If accepted by either, he believes it will put Palestine on the map in the animation world. The success of recent Middle Eastern-themed animation films such as the Israeli hit Waltz with Bashir, and the French-Iranian film Persepolis, will no doubt help open the door for more international attention to be given to the small but budding Palestinian animation sector.

“Animation has gained prestige in the world, as it has been shown that you can address hard topics and sensitive issues through it,” notes Andoni optimistically. “This country is filled with stories, and life here is full of drama. I believe that the real stories that you get out of real people here are much stronger than anything that you can fictionalise.”var _sttoolbar = {}stBlogger.init(“http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=52cd5322-19be-4e14-946f-eb0de2b3b38c&type=blogger”);

Directors of Arab nationality or origin from the Maghreb to the Gulf invited to submit works in progress or in advanced stage of development

Online application deadline August 15, 2009

Dubai, August 4, 2009 – Talented filmmakers from the global Arab community stand to gain more than US$110,000 in funding and invaluable connections to key industry influencers as the Dubai International Film Festival crosses the halfway mark for the third Dubai Film Connection, the Festival’s co-production market.

The co-production market, which opened for 2009 submissions in May, champions directors of Levant, Maghreb, Gulf or North African origin, from Mauritania to Sudan and Syria to Om

The co-production market, which opened for 2009 submissions in May, champions directors of Levant, Maghreb, Gulf or North African origin, from Mauritania to Sudan and Syria to Oman.

In two short years, the Middle East’s first fiction and documentary film development initiative to raise the visibility of Arab filmmakers and stimulate more production from the region has achieved significant success. From the 33 film projects selected in the 2007 and 2008 editions, 17 are in various stages of production and five are completed. Several have gone on to critical acclaim at the renowned Sundance, Berlin and Cannes festivals.

The Dubai Film Connection will present six awards during the sixth DIFF, to be held from December 9 – 16. These include a €6,000 prize (US$8,400) prize from ARTE France, the US$10,000 Bahrain Film Production Company DIFF Development Award, the US$25,000 Desert Door DIFF Work in Progress Award, and three US$25,000 DIFF prizes. The winners of the three DIFF awards also receive entry into the prestigious Producers Network at the Cannes Film Festival.

DFC also matches the short-listed director/producer teams with industry professionals specialising in film production, sales, distribution and funding to further develop their projects.

DIFF Managing Director Shivani Pandya said the DFC delivers on the Festival’s core mandate to bridge cultures through cinema and to showcase the best of Arab cinema.

“The Dubai Film Connection provides a platform for the world’s most promising Arab talent to collaborate with international film professionals to realize their vision,” Pandya said. “”There is no doubt that DFC is a successful project market, not only because of the volume of quality applications we receive every year but primarily because of the outstanding projects that emerge from the rigorous selection process. Arab filmmaking has never been more distinguished and recognized internationally and we are happy to be an instrument in this achievement.”

In previous editions, DFC showcase projects included feature debuts and new projects from established filmmakers from the Maghreb, Levant, North Africa and the Gulf, including Abdellatif Ben Ammar, Faouzi Bensaidi, Oday Rasheed, Djamila Sahraoui, Annemarie Jacir, Cherien Dabis, Ziad Doueiri, Douad Abd El-Sayed and Simon El Habre.

‘Amreeka,’ a DFC project by Palestinian-American Cherien Dabis, made its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and earlier this year received the prestigious FIPRESCI prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Lebanese filmmaker Simon El Habre’s directorial debut, ‘The One Man Village,’ which received a 2007 DFC grant and a DIFF Muhr Arabic jury prize, went on to win awards at documentary festivals in Canada, Monaco and Rotterdam.

Interested filmmakers with feature-length fiction or documentary projects in development or works in progress can apply for the Dubai Film Connection online until August 15, 2009 at www.dubaifilmfest.com. Hard copy materials must be received at DIFF headquarters in Dubai no later than August 22, 2009.

For more information, please contact:
Majid Wasi
Communications Manager
Dubai International Film Festival

Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority
Direct: + 97 14 361 3882
Board: + 97 14 391 33 78
Fax: + 97 14 367 28 92

Mildred Fernandes/Chloe Martinez
ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller
Tel: + 971 4 3344 550
Fax: + 971 4 3344 556
E-mail: m.fernandes@asdaa.com/c.martinez@asdaa.com

© Press Release 2009

from ASDA’A Public Relations

Daily News Egypt
By Paul Handley / Agence France-Presse
First Published: July 21, 2009

Saudis want music and movies like everyone else, but the cancellation of the Jeddah film festival highlights the tough war over entertainment within the country’s conservative religious establishment.

For several years Saudis have been pushing to roll back bans on concerts and movies, which the country’s top clerics label evil.

But Friday’s 11th-hour cancellation of the Jeddah festival — an event that had won high-level permission — showed the clerics are holding their ground.

“We were hoping that things like the Jeddah film festival, the Gulf film festival in Khobar, that these very humble efforts would lead the change. But we got the message it is not the time,” said filmmaker Mahmoud Sabbagh.

The setback was a stark reminder of the difference between Saudi Arabia and everywhere else in the Arab world, where movies and concerts freely take place — with travelling Saudis often in the audience.

Saudi Arabia’s most famous entertainer Mohamed Abdo, for instance, plays the oud, sings, and recites classical poetry in sold-out concerts around the Arab world, but he cannot give a normal public performance in Saudi Arabia.

The cancellation of the seemingly breakthrough film festival was a shock, locals said.

The order was issued by the city just two days after it endorsed the movie showings as part of the “Jeddah is Different” summer festival.

The film festival “lacked preparations,” city spokesman Ahmad Al-Ghamdi told Arab News. But organizers say they understood the order came from the highest reaches of the government, under pressure from clerics.

Saudis had drawn encouragement in recent months from the push by Rotana, the group controlled by progressive billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, to show its homemade comedy movie “Menahi” in halls in Jeddah and Riyadh.

Against tough resistance, the shows went ahead, and Rotana boldly put itself up as the main sponsor of the Jeddah festival, which would have shown more than 100 feature and short films over a week.

“Films and movie theatres will come inevitably,” Alwaleed declared in February.

But the cancellation was only one of several reversals for proponents of freer access to entertainment in Saudi Arabia, which include businesses like Rotana, scores of rock, hip hop and heavy metal groups who can only perform at private parties, dozens of hopeful filmmakers, artists, and all their fans.

For the first time in years the official summer festival in Asir will not have music concerts, either of traditional performers like Abdo or imported pop stars from Egypt or Lebanon.

In May a French embassy-sponsored concert by operatic soprano Isabelle Poulenard, performing with a female accompanist to a women-only audience in Riyadh, was forbidden just two days before the date after gaining full permissions.

The concert finally went ahead following an apparent high-level skirmish between religious and other officials, said a person associated with the event.

In early July a concert billed as “Midnight Acoustic” inside a Riyadh housing compound for foreigners — normally insulated from the strict Saudi cultural rules — was shut down halfway through when the religious police arrived at the compound’s gates.

Half the 500-strong audiences were Saudis, according to one person who attended.

The setbacks have dimmed the hopes of Saudis who saw an opening after relatively progressive King Abdullah took the throne in 2005. They were encouraged when he purged the government of a number of conservative clerics earlier this year.

But the religious establishment now appears to have drawn a line in the sand over public cinema and music, backed by official fatwas (religious edicts).

“Attending the cinema and having access to it is taboo and is forbidden because most of what it displays is forbidden distractions that create disorder,” says one posting on the government fatwa website.

“Music and all other elements of distraction are considered evil,” says another.

The irony is that most Saudis are exposed to the freewheeling entertainment culture outside their borders. They travel abroad liberally to Bahrain, Dubai, Egypt and Lebanon to attend films and concerts.

“When Mohamed Abdo performs in Cairo or Beirut, the audience is mostly Saudis,” said a music industry figure.

At home too, they get it all on television and video. Mazen Hayek, marketing director for leading regional satellite broadcaster MBC, says Saudis gobble up their fare of popular western and Arabic series, films, and music shows, none of which are tailored for Saudi mores.

“Saudi Arabia is one of our primary markets,” he said.